Definition
According to Muscle Cars, a book written by Peter Henshaw, a "muscle car" is "exactly what the name implies. It is a product of the American car industry adhering to the hot rodder's philosophy of taking a small car and putting a large-displacement engine in it. The Muscle Car is Charles Atlas kicking sand in the face of the 98 horsepower weakling." Henshaw further asserts that the muscle car was designed for straight-line speed, and did not have the "sophisticated chassis", "engineering integrity", or "lithe appearance" of European high-performance cars.
However, opinions vary as to whether high-performance full-size cars, compacts, and pony cars qualify as muscle cars.
The following is a list of classic muscle cars and their manufacturers (along with each make's corresponding pony car, where applicable):
| Manufacturer | Pony car | Muscle car |
|---|---|---|
| AMC | Javelin SST | Machine |
| Buick | none | Gran Sport |
| Chevrolet | Camaro | Chevelle SS |
| Dodge | Challenger | Charger RT |
| Ford | Mustang | Torino GT |
| Mercury | Cougar | Cyclone CJ |
| Oldsmobile | none | 442 |
| Plymouth | Barracuda | Road Runner |
| Pontiac | Firebird | GTO |
Read more about this topic: Muscle Car
Famous quotes containing the word definition:
“The very definition of the real becomes: that of which it is possible to give an equivalent reproduction.... The real is not only what can be reproduced, but that which is always already reproduced. The hyperreal.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“The physicians say, they are not materialists; but they are:MSpirit is matter reduced to an extreme thinness: O so thin!—But the definition of spiritual should be, that which is its own evidence. What notions do they attach to love! what to religion! One would not willingly pronounce these words in their hearing, and give them the occasion to profane them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Although there is no universal agreement as to a definition of life, its biological manifestations are generally considered to be organization, metabolism, growth, irritability, adaptation, and reproduction.”
—The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition, the first sentence of the article on “life” (based on wording in the First Edition, 1935)